Guatemala volcano toll 200 missing, 75 dead

ALOTENANGO: Nearly 200 people are missing and at least 75 have been killed since Guatemala´s Fuego volcano began erupting over the weekend, officials said Tuesday.

Seven communities in already devastated areas were evacuated as the volcano´s activity increased, with rescue operations halted.In the city of Escuintla, near the summit, panicked locals rushed to their cars to escape, causing chaotic traffic.

An AFP photographer saw a large plume of ash rise into the sky, prompting an evacuation of everyone authorities could find before the police, the military and rescuers were ordered to stand down. And a total of 192 people remain missing since the weekend eruptions, disaster relief agency chief Sergio Cabanas told reporters.

The search for bodies in mountain villages destroyed by the eruption was progressing slowly, officials said earlier, given the nature of the terrain and the way the volcano released large amounts of boiling mud, rock and ash down the mountain.